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The best conservative political news, analysis and opinionSun, 02 Aug 2015 18:08:48 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.2.3What My New Year’s Resolutions Mean!http://www.conservativedailynews.com/2013/12/what-my-new-years-resolutions-mean/
http://www.conservativedailynews.com/2013/12/what-my-new-years-resolutions-mean/#commentsSun, 29 Dec 2013 06:53:36 +0000http://www.conservativedailynews.com/?p=96006Not like you care, but you might find some similarities between what you’re thinking and what I’m doing…

The top five resolutions are 1. Lose weight, 2. Get organized, 3. Spend less, save more, 4. Enjoy life to the fullest, and 5. Stay fit and healthy. Even more interesting is the percentages of accomplishment. Only 45% of Americans actually make resolutions and only 8% of those succeed… EIGHT PERCENT! (Pause here a moment and let that sink in!)

So, what makes me think I can keep mine? Do I think I’m better than those people? No. More stubborn? Yes! Willing to go to the wall? Yes!

There are many successful people in this world who simply never gave up. They pushed through and no matter how bad it got they never got disheartened. So, I’ll take a few of the major resolutions:

Lose weight. I pledge to lose weight, the weight of all those naysayers who claim conservatives can’t win, can’t stand strong, and can’t come together to ensure a win. I resolve to dump the weight of those people who send me emails telling me how this country is lost and we will never come back. I will do it by doing what I do best, consistently focusing on the mark, pushing towards it and asking God (yes I said God) for His guidance for success and how to get God and country to the place of honor it deserves.

Get organized. That’s so important! I’m not talking about lining up my suits in the closet or my underwear in the drawer, but getting my priorities straight. Organize my friends and acquaintances in such a way that I know who cares about what issues and have them help me strengthen this country again to make it, once again, the greatest country on the face of the planet. No one with “political correctness” need apply.

Spend less, save more. Agreed! Spend less energy fighting unwinnable fights and save more energy to be used on battles we can win. People in my line of work spend energy fighting on many fronts about many issues. If you don’t focus, you can’t win. Pick one or two, you know your bandwidth, use the saved up energy and resources fighting and organizing (see item 2 above) to support those issues close to your heart.

Enjoy life to the fullest. You have to have the “liberty” to “pursue happiness” and enjoy life to its fullest. Most people enjoy life when they are pursuing their dreams and working hard for their money to be able to save or invest as they see fit to better their lives. In order for me to be able to enjoy my life, I have to have control over it. What kind of healthcare I want or don’t want. Whether I want to join a union or not. How much debt I want to strap my children and grandchildren with.

Stay fit and healthy. OK, I can only spin this one so much. Yes, we need to take care of ourselves so that we have energy for the fight, because people, believe me, it will be a fight. Those of you who are left-leaning see what’s happened over the last almost 5 years as a positive. In your mind, America is finally taking care of all its people. Healthcare for all, mortgage reductions for all, overreaching regulations in banking, the EPA, FCC, and labor board (to name a few). A decimation of our military not seen since the days of Mr. Clinton. None of that has been healthy… NONE OF IT! The economy is being propped up on government money steroids, and is so fragile that when a hint is uttered that the government may pull back just a little, the market tanks! None of these things are healthy not a one.

I resolve to hold my feet to the fire to push, poke, and prod myself and others around me to get this country back to “Liberty and Justice for All.” All people, any color, any size and ethnicity should be able to pursue their dreams.

I resolve to hold my elected officials feet to the fire to do what they said they were going to do when they ran for election.

I resolve to make sure every legal vote counts by shining a light on those who think that any person on American soil with a heartbeat has the right to vote. They don’t! Our founding fathers didn’t give up their property, family, and lives for us to spit on the Constitution.

I resolve not to back down from my American pride, my Christianity, my “MALEness”, or my love for God and country.

Join me in a New Year’s Resolution to ensure that:

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity.

The following is a list of resolutions for the GOP in 2013, which was posted at the website Independent Journal Review. Apparently, a lot of people find these recommendations hard to swallow:

1. Unify

Ronald Reagan’s Eleventh Commandment: “Thou shalt speak no evil of another Republican.” The Democrat Party never has a problem getting unified support or opposition to a bill in public. Hammer out your differences before bringing up votes.

2. Diversify

The 2012 RNC had a lot of minority speakers who are rising stars in the party. Keep that trend going. The more advocates for liberty in the Republican party who can connect with people of diverse backgrounds, the better.

3. Shelve the Social Issues

The Democrat Party dines out on Republicans falling into the trap of trying to legislate social policy. The principle of equal protection should be applied, and social issues should be argued about only at the state level, and that doesn’t include candidates for Congress. Republicans should make it a point that they will not seek to implement social issues legislation at the national level (and they shouldn’t).

4. Fresh Faces

We need young, vibrant and enthusiastic speakers in the party, who are passionately opposed to statism. Vocal, intelligent and principled critics of the social welfare state like Marco Rubio, Paul Ryan, and Rand Paul are vital to a party resurgence.

5. Don’t Preach to the Choir

FoxNews is probably the only conservative TV network, so this isn’t a knock on that channel. But basically, only conservatives watch Fox News. The GOP has to go to where moderates are, even if that means confronting hostile interviewers.

6. Forget Perfection

The constant nitpicking about every candidate has got to stop. Do Democrats care about every single issue? They put inept politicians in office on a regular basis, simply for the reason that they aren’t Republicans. Meanwhile, registered GOP voters couldn’t be bothered to get off the couch on November 6th to vote for Romney.

7. New Leadership

Speaker Boehner may mean well, but he hasn’t been very effective opposing Democrats in Congress. The leadership needs to change it up or be replaced by those who are serious about cutting spending and explaining why they want to do so. The House has the power of the purse, after all, and the GOP’s leaders need to learn how to leverage the people’s branch of government.

8. Get Smart

The Republican Party constantly engages in populist politics when it is completely unnecessary. In order to grab hold of the moderates and lock them up, the GOP needs to be seen as smart and mature, while the Democrats need to be looked upon as childish, reckless name-callers. This shouldn’t be that hard to do against a party whose only solution to every problem is to raise taxes and spend trillions of dollars America doesn’t have. Debt is dumb. Start making that case.

Unless a broad coalition like the tea party, which actually did shelve social issues in 2010, arises to unite against big government — we’re going to see a repeat of 2012. The political fight has to be treated like a long, cultural battle for the heart of the country, not like a one-term election proposition, which the right just lost.

Instead of learning its lesson, the GOP electorate thinks it needs to push back harder, when it should be recruiting more people into its ranks. Don’t take on this image of pushing back too hard, even as we seek to fight the left tooth and nail, but instead entice people into the party.

Stop trying to fight on all parts of the political terrain, instead of picking the most important one or two battles, and making a stand there. Obstinacy on social issues won’t mean much when the central government is running 90% of the economy. Pick debt, free speech, and gun control, and win on those issues. Forget the other stuff at the national level, or suffer ruin.

Ultimately, for the GOP to rebrand successfully, it has to be seen as the mature and reasonable party, and the Democrats need to be cast as childish, reckless name-callers.

Just a friendly word of advice from someone who was very active in the tea party and in the successful 2010 Congressional elections. I’m fiercely against abortion (not for religious reasons), gun control, more spending, tax increases, and the social welfare state. But this isn’t about my personal views, this is about preserving and expanding liberty.

There is a pretty easy explanation as to why the vast majority of New Year’s resolutions don’t make it past the fifth of January. It’s because for most of them, they are unrealistic goals motivated by a desire for radical change in one’s life. And while radical change is not necessarily a bad thing, it becomes impossible when you are trying to fit that change into a one second window between 11:59:59 on December 31st and midnight on January 1st.

The typical New Year’s battle cry, things like “I’m going to lose 50 pounds this year” or “I’m going to be a better person this year” are indeed admirable goals and I am not saying for a second that we should not set them and move toward them. What usually happens though is that at the first sign of an obstacle moving towards these goals, most people fold up like a cheap tent and say “to heck with it!” We expect ourselves to change behaviors and positions that have probably been with us for many years and we literally expect it overnight. With the deck stacked so heavily and unfairly against us, it’s no wonder why the average New Year’s resolution does not last for more than a fortnight.

The apostle Paul tells us in Romans 6:14 that “For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.” The “law” under the Mosaic covenant, was and is a very unforgiving thing. Paul further talks about not knowing what sin is, if it had not been for the law itself. The same is true for us today.

There are two types of citizens in our world. Simply put, there are law-abiding citizens and non-law-abiding citizens – who we like to call, criminals. In order for a person to remain a law-abiding citizen, they must, well, obey all the laws. In order to become a criminal, one only needs to break the law. So when we apply the “law” to the treatment of our New Year’s Resolutions, we are already setting ourselves up for failure. The Law is pass/fail.

You will make mistakes, hence the Grace.

Instead, we should approach January 1st from a different perspective. Yes, it’s a new year, new calendar and, it is as good a time as any to start fresh in many aspects of our lives. We should also realize that many of the bad habits we have did not develop overnight and to expect them to right themselves with the click of a clock is simply unrealistic.

Again the Apostle Paul tells us in Romans 12:2, “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.” The objective is to be transformed – past tense – but the process is by the renewing – present tense – of our minds. We will always to be in the process of renewal, less about a destination and more about destiny.

With this is mind, I call on all of you to trade in the New Year’s Resolution for the Grace Revolution. The Grace Revolution is based on a complete turning over (revolution) from one state to another, but through grace, not law. It means that we need to realize going in that we will make mistakes. Expect to fall off the wagon, if fact, plan on it; and don’t just plan on it, plan FOR it.

I have taught the Dave Ramsey “Financial Peace University” course over a dozen times and one of the many things I like about it is that he makes you budget for your mistakes. He calls it “blow” money – for when you blow it. This is the grace mentality.

It’s probably no wonder why budgets and diets perish early in our list of resolutions. We don’t budget for our failures, perhaps because they have such a stigma attached to them. Yet when you look at truly successful people, you will realize that they all hold the “2,000 ways not to make a light bulb” philosophy close to them. This tenacious spirit will invariably lead to success.

So, plan for your mismanaging of the budget. Cut yourself some slack when your temperature rises a few times in traffic. Allow for habits to develop. Schedule your feasts!

Aim low and short, take baby steps and realize that some of those will be backwards. If you do this day by day, perhaps hour by hour, you will have the privilege of looking up one fine day and realizing that those distant goals that seemed so far off are within arm’s reach after all.

All children skin their knees, some of us more than others. Regardless, they all have one thing in common – they grow. That growing cannot be rushed, only time will cultivate your harvest. So, instead of being frustrated over what you may see as a lack of progress, enjoy the journey and, I bet by this time next year, many of those seemingly insurmountable mountains will have indeed been removed and cast into the sea!

To all: Happy New Year.

]]>http://www.conservativedailynews.com/2011/12/new-years-resolution-or-grace-revolution/feed/0Don't "Drop the Ball" on These New Year's Resolutions!http://www.conservativedailynews.com/2011/12/dont-drop-the-ball-on-these-new-years-resolutions/
http://www.conservativedailynews.com/2011/12/dont-drop-the-ball-on-these-new-years-resolutions/#commentsThu, 22 Dec 2011 20:24:07 +0000http://conservativedailynews.com/?p=31471NEW YORK, Dec. 22, 2011 — With 2012 rapidly approaching, many Americans will be making New Year’s Resolutions to improve upon themselves in the coming year. A new study from local market consumer research firm Scarborough reveals some of the likely New Year’sResolution topics for the over 235 million American adults age 18+. There are six major categories for New Year’s Resolutions as determined by Scarborough: Voting, Financial, Technology, Fitness, Education and Eco-friendliness.

2012 is not only a new year – it is an election year. Since 19% of American adults assert that they never vote in presidential elections, 2012 is a prime year for Voting Resolutions to be made. Generationally speaking, Gen Y* and Gen X* represent the biggest opportunities for a change in voting behavior as 34% and 21% respectively say they never vote in presidential elections. For comparison, 72% of all American adults say they always vote in presidential elections.

Financial Resolutions are also popular. Only 22% of American adults say they live in a household that has a 401K plan and 20% have an Individual Retirement Account (IRA). Additionally, 67% have a savings account and 86% have a checking account. There is ample opportunity for the 14% of American adults who have none of these financial services for their household to set a Financial Resolution. 57% of the Silent Generation* say they have a savings account for their household while Baby Boomers* ranked highest for having a checking account (84%) or an IRA (23%).

How about becoming more technologically savvy as a resolution? 13% of American adults live in a household that plans to purchase an eReader, HDTV or smartphone in the next 12 months. A Technology Resolution, with a focus on commitment to learning new platforms, would bring the two older generations up-to-speed with their younger counterparts. Baby Boomers are 13% less likely than all American adults to plan to purchase an eReader, HDTV or smartphone in the next 12 months and the Silent Generation is 61% less likely to do the same.

Fitness is an area that is revisited annually by resolution-makers. Despite this enthusiasm for fitness, only 20% of American adults belong to a gym. In the past 12 months, 77% of adults said they were not runners or joggers and 91% did not do yoga or Pilates.

When it comes to education, 6% of American adults plan on returning to school in the next 12 months and 26% hold a college degree or higher. Gen Y was the generation most interested in returning to school in the next 12 months (17%). Additionally, Gen X had the highest percentage with a college degree or higher (34%).

Another area in which American adults may want to challenge themselves in 2012 is in eco-friendly activities. 34% of American adults do not recycle glass, plastic or paper on a regular basis and 83% do not buy organic food.

Adults across the U.S. may consider embracing these resolutions, but there are many local markets that already have a head start:

I tend to read through a lot of proposed legislation and often find nuggets that don’t necessarily merit their own articles, but would more-than-likely interest my readers. I’ll be updating this post on a regular basis as I catch legislation that might be of interest.

Most Recent Update

S.2750 Bill that gives Secretary of HHS the authority to make grants to States to reduce the ratio of school nurses to students

S.2748 Bill that extends by one year employer wage credit for those that have employees that are active duty military

H.R.3922 Ensures that U.S. companies are not conducting business in Iran

H.Res.842 – Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that the MacDowell Colony in Peterborough, New Hampshire should be recognized for its contribution to the arts around the world and heritage of the United States.

H.R.3548 – Unemployment Compensation Extension Act: Adds an additional 13 weeks of unemployment benefits on top of the last extension

H.R.1283 – Military Readiness Enhancement Act: Repeals “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” and makes the act retro-active (anyone discharged on the basis of the policy can be re-instated)

H.R.1283 – Military Readiness Enhancement Act: Repeals “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” and makes the act retro-active (anyone discharged on the basis of the policy can be re-instated)

S.J. Res.20: Joint resolution that would force Congress to spend no more than the “certain revenue” in the current year and no more than 20% of GDP of the previous year. That is spending, not deficit. During the years of 200-2008 the spending range was between 18.4% and 19.8% of G.D.P. This seems to be a realistic and beneficial target.

S.Res.309: Resolution recognizing and celebrating the 145th anniversary of Nevada’s entry into the United States. Sponsored by…. yeah Harry Reid. Doesn’t the Senate have better things to do with our tax-payer funded salaries than push garbage like this through while we are at war, in economic turmoil, without jobs… I could go on… and I will

S.Res.307: Requires that all matters before Congress be fully scored by the Congressional Business Office for at least 72 hours before consideration by subcomittee

S.J.Res.7: Joint resolution that proposes an amendment to the Constitution to make it a requirement that Senators be elected by the populations of their states, even for the purpose of replacing an unexpected vacancy. This is in response to Ted Kennedy’s death and the maneuvering in the Massachusetts legislature. Teddy changed the law in the Democrat’s favor years ago and now wants it back to allowing the Governor to appoint. Senator Feingold is sponsoring good legislation here.

S.1692: USA Patriot Act Extension. This seeks to extend the Patriot act…. wait.. weren’t the Democrats opposed to everything in the PA

H.R.187: National Right-to-Carry – fairly-muddy cross-state allowance for concealed carry. Still enforces state’s rights, which is the correct move – no matter how much of a 2nf amendment supporter you may be

H.R.264 – Doubles the number of visas to almost 1 Million, by offering legalization to aliens who have been in the U.S. for five years or are children. Haitians are given special consideration – immediate access to lawful permanent resident status. Some enhancements for border control.

H.R.2454: American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009: Cap and Trade pollution controls. This bill is also known as the Waxman-Markey bill and seeks to limit CO2 emission by making it more expensive to generate electricity. A lot more expensive.